This invention relates generally to electrolyzers and more specifically to interconnect supported electrolyzer assemblies, preforms and methods of fabrication.
Electrolyzers, for example solid oxide electrolyzers, are electrochemical devices that have many potential applications including large-scale hydrogen generation for distributed or local supply. One of the key challenges is to develop cost effective processes to manufacture electrode and electrolyte materials, especially with large surface areas.
In the past, anode, cathode or electrolyte supported approaches were used for electrolyzer cell fabrication. It is desirable for each of these components to be thin, but the anode, cathode and electrolyte are all typically made of fragile based ceramics. Necessarily, in conventional cells, in order to provide support for cell fabrication, at least one of the components must be thick.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved support approach for electrolyzer cell fabrication.